Modal Epistemology

Classical epistemology strove to understand knowledge as an approximation to an objective reality. But more recent scientific and philosophical insights suggest that knowledge is necessarily tied to the modality of the subject. In this essay, the thesis of a "modal theory of knowledge" is developed: knowledge is not a reflection of a world in itself, but the perspective modalization of being. The thought experiment of a photon as a hypothetical subject of knowledge shows the radical subject-bound nature of all acts of cognition. Consequences for the understanding of truth, objectivity and science are discussed.